Q&A: Iryna Zarutska’s family plans to file lawsuit

CHARLOTTE — Iryna Zarutska’s family has had to navigate grieving the tragedy of her loss in the public eye for the last year.

To this day, they still aren’t ready to sit down and speak publicly about Iryna. For the last 12 months, their attorney, Lauren Newton, has been their voice.

Newton sat down with Channel 9’s Hannah Goetz on Wednesday, just days before the one-year mark of Iryna’s tragic killing.

Hannah Goetz: “Is there a message they want the Charlotte community, the US, the world to know about how they feel coming up on the anniversary or just in general, their message to everyone right now?”

Lauren Newton: “I think especially with this report that came out earlier this week from the Office of the North Carolina State Auditor, it confirms what we already knew and that this is a huge issue of public safety. We need physical barriers to prevent non-ticketed riders from boarding our light rail system. It’s the only way, with a physical barrier, DeCarlos Brown Jr. would not have been on that train on August 22nd, 2025.”

Goetz: “If we weren’t sitting here now talking about her, where would she be? What would she be doing?”

Newton: “She would still be caring for her neighbor’s cats and pet sitting. She’d be riding her bike with her mom. She would be working at the pizzeria. She’d still be taking classes, working to improve her English. She had a degree from Ukraine in, you know, art preservation. That’s what she was working for. I think we would see her art instead of beautiful murals of her across the city.”

Goetz: “Will there be a lawsuit in the future?”

Newton: “Absolutely, that’s in the future.”

Goetz: “In the pursuit of justice for Iryna and for so many women like her, in a year from now, in 10 years from now, in 20 years from now, when people hear her name, what do you hope they think of?”

Newton: “How we changed something in our city for the better out of an awful, tragic situation that cut a life short far too soon.”

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